title: Development of waxy cassava with different Biological and physico-chemical characteristics of starches for industrial applications.
abstract: The quality of cassava starch, an important trait in cassava breeding programs, determines its applications in various industries. For example, development of waxy (having a low level of amylose) cassava is in demand. Amylose is synthesized by granule-bound starch synthase I (GBSSI) in plants, and therefore, down-regulation of GBSSI expression in cassava might lead to reduced amylose content. We produced 63 transgenic cassava plant lines that express hair-pin dsRNAs homologous to the cassava GBSSI conserved region under the control of the vascular-specific promoter p54/1.0 from cassava (p54/1.0::GBSSI-RNAi) or cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV) 35S (35S::GBSSI-RNAi). After the screening storage roots and starch granules from field-grown plants with iodine staining, the waxy phenotype was discovered: p54/1.0::GBSSI-RNAi line A8 and 35S::GBSSI-RNAi lines B9, B10, and B23. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis showed that there was no detectable GBSSI protein in the starch granules of plants with the waxy phenotype. Further, the amylose content of transgenic starches was significantly reduced (<5%) compared with the level in starch granules from the wild-type (about 25%). The inner structure of the waxy starch granules differed from that of the untransformed ones, as revealed by transmission electron microscopy analysis as well as morphological changes in the iodine-starch complex. Endothermic enthalpy was reduced in waxy cassava starches, according to differential scanning calorimeter analysis. Except B9, all waxy starches displayed the A-type X-ray diffraction pattern. Amylogram patterns of the waxy cassava starches were analyzed using a rapid viscosity analyzer and found to have increased values for clarity, peak viscosity, gel breakdown, and swelling index. Setback, consistency, and solubility were notably reduced. Therefore, waxy cassava with novel starch in its storage roots was produced using the biotechnological approach, promoting its industrial utilization.
authors.affiliation: National Key Laboratory of Plant Molecular Genetics, Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 300 Fenglin Road, Shanghai 200032, China.
authors.forename: Shan-Shan
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Dominique
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Dufour
authors.forename: Teresa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sánchez
authors.forename: Hernan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ceballos
authors.forename: Peng
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000688:Amylose / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism; D017796:Caulimovirus / Q000235:genetics; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D015870:Gene Expression; D002365:Manihot / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism*; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D013213:Starch / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D013214:Starch Synthase / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D014961:X-Ray Diffraction
chemical_list: D013213:Starch; D000688:Amylose; C434607:granule-bound starch synthase I; D013214:Starch Synthase